Guan Sui rested his arms on the couch, caging Wen Song within his embrace.
The two of them were very close.
All the Alpha had to do was lower his head by a single centimeter to capture the lips he had been craving for so long.
Yet Guan Sui knew.
If he really kissed him, the response wouldn’t be a passionate return kiss, but a resounding slap to the face.
“What if I said I don’t want to look anywhere else?”
Wen Song’s breathing hitched.
Although restrained by the wristband, the scent of the Alpha’s pheromones leaked out and drilled into his nasal cavity, constantly reminding him that this was the person who had given him the countless peaks of intense stimulation. Even without a gland, he felt a burning heat at the back of his neck.
Sensing Guan Sui tentatively and slowly lowering his head, Wen Song turned his face away, dodging the contact and refusing to meet his gaze directly.
Guan Sui wasn’t angered by the silent rejection. Instead, he calmly leaned in toward the neck of the Beta in his arms, his nose twitching slightly as he noticed the other man’s body tensing up rigidly, both hands pressing against his chest to prevent even a sliver of space between them.
“It’s gone.”
Wen Song asked, “Hm?”
Guan Sui reached out, using a warm pad of his finger to press against the spot where the neck patch sat.
“The mark has faded.”
“The pheromones are gone, too.”
Wen Song remained blank for a second, seemingly failing to understand the meaning behind Guan Sui’s words.
He was a Beta.
A mark simply couldn’t last twenty-four hours.
In other words, he had no gland at all; what remained at the nape of his neck were simply the bite marks left by an Alpha who enjoyed biting.
Pheromones would stream into his skin and flesh through the bite, thoroughly staining him with the scent of tequila.
Yet he couldn’t retain a mark or pheromones for at least a week the way an Omega could.
“Isn’t it better if they’re gone?” Wen Song stated calmly.
He had to remember that there was no difference between the two of them right now and an illicit affair.
He had already used a neutralizing spray to clear away all of the Alpha’s pheromones on his body. As for the bite mark at the back of his neck, the patch kept it hidden so the marked trace wouldn’t be exposed. To prevent discovery, Wen Song had even deliberately avoided seeing Zhao Mingzhuo over the past few days.
Alphas repel Alphas; if his condition didn’t recover, Zhao Mingzhuo would easily discover the mark at the nape of his neck.
Guan Sui’s mischievous streak slowly seeped out. “No, it’s not.”
Wen Song couldn’t quite understand.
He was merely a Beta without pheromones.
Even if Guan Sui liked Betas because playing with them came with zero burden, there were millions of Betas in this world, and people willing to accompany the man in a shallow game of pretense could circle Suicheng multiple times. Why on earth did the other man have to choose a tactless Beta who kept trying to draw a clear line between them?
“You said you’d give me time to consider.” Wen Song lowered his eyelids.
Guan Sui let out an affirmative in a relaxed, casual tone.
“I am giving you time to consider.”
“I just didn’t say we have to pretend we don’t know each other after getting out of bed.”
Wen Song thought to himself, such a shameless and brazen act.
Sure enough, his initial assessment of the Alpha before him as hard to deal with was entirely accurate. Once entangled, there was no way to call a halt, and all ownership of the game rested in the other man’s hands.
Whether it continued or ended was entirely up to Guan Sui.
At first, he had thought Guan Sui’s cold and aloof expression meant he hated him, but looking back now, it must have been the excitement of eyeing his prey and the fear of startling it.
Wen Song began to suspect that walking into the Alpha’s trap that night had been intentional.
Otherwise, how could the man have gone out and investigated his grandmother’s situation so quickly afterward?
“Then can you stop being handsy?” Wen Song attempted to negotiate with the Alpha.
He needed some time.
Guan Sui maintained the posture of caging the Beta in his arms, the distance between them still unclosed. He lowered his gaze to rest on Wen Song’s rosy lips, where a close look revealed the fine, delicate down on his skin without detracting from his beauty at all.
“Right now,”
His tone rose, dragging out the ending, and he continued, “I am being very well-behaved.”
“Besides, do you know what pushing your luck means?”
Before Wen Song could speak, the Alpha’s palm slid inch by inch from his shoulders to his sensitive waist, shifting from a loose hold to a tightening grip, his thumb and forefinger locking around the narrow waist.
Leaning in close to Wen Song’s ear, the man articulated clearly, “This is what pushing your luck means.”
His hand moved slowly from the waist to the back, feeling as though it were stroking the fabric of a high-end tailored suit. Wen Song didn’t dare move, his entire body stiffening. Suddenly, Guan Sui let out a short, muffled chuckle.
“You have a very pretty pair of dimples on your lower back.”
“You’re just too thin.”
“You need to eat more so you’re comfortable to hold.”
Wen Song stayed silent.
The Alpha’s pheromones completely enveloped him while he still maintained a calm composure. “I want to watch the auction.”
“Can you let go of me?”
If he went toe-to-toe with brute force, Guan Sui would definitely resort to dominance.
It was better to yield.
To negotiate.
The man didn’t look like an Alpha who would act with reckless and unbridled plunder.
Sure enough, the moment Wen Song finished speaking, Guan Sui immediately released his grip, taking a step back to widen the distance.
“Of course.”
“Go ahead and watch. I won’t disturb you.”
He truly stopped being handsy and disturbing Wen Song’s viewing of the auction.
However,
His gaze landed unreservedly upon the other man.
Wen Song slowly transitioned from initial discomfort to ignoring Guan Sui’s presence entirely.
He would just treat the man as if he didn’t exist.
Although the auction was somewhat tedious, watching a bunch of wealthy capitalists spend astronomical sums of money on art pieces to cultivate their refinement, to Wen Song, it was essentially a simple and relaxing form of entertainment.
There was no need for deep thought; he could just pour himself into the auction.
And occasionally appreciate the beauty of the artwork.
“Is there anything you like?”
Sometime later, Guan Sui, who had originally been sitting in the back row, moved to Wen Song’s side and asked casually like a friend.
Wen Song shook his head slightly. “No.”
“I’m not interested in these luxury art pieces.”
For one, he couldn’t understand the value behind a series of famous paintings, calligraphy scrolls, and ceramics.
For another, he didn’t have that kind of money to buy them.
The only item up for auction next caught Wen Song’s eye, making him look a little longer.
It was a pair of gradient-blue twin fish jade pendants.
The texture, pattern, and design were exceptionally eye-catching.
The second after claiming he had no interest in art, his face was metaphorically slapped by a piece of jade.
The moment the price was announced, Wen Song felt that some things truly had a reason to be expensive; a pair of jade pendants with no particular magical attributes started at two hundred thousand, proving that the materials and craftsmanship were definitely worth that figure.
“Assistant Jin, win this jade pendant for me.”
“Price is no object.”
At that moment, Guan Sui beside him had already called Assistant Jin down in the auction hall.
Wen Song cast a sideways glance at the man, then calmly withdrew his gaze.
In the end, Assistant Jin won the jade pendant for over three million.
Rich people.
They really were that willful.
A simple jade pendant could actually be bid up to over three million.
Wen Song had no desire to possess other people’s money; at most, he could only marvel at how high-quality the lives of the upper class were.
He hadn’t expected Guan Sui to share a somewhat similar taste to his, both of them setting their sights on this pair of twin fish jade pendants.
Still, the color, design, and exquisite carving of the pendant were exceptionally gorgeous, truly fitting the public’s aesthetic.